Cape Codders Join Reunification Protests

CAPE COD – Cape residents joined thousands all across the country yesterday in protesting the separation of families crossing into the country illegally at the southern border.

 

Locally, hundreds gathered in Barnstable, Brewster, Buzzards Bay, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Falmouth, Harwich, Hyannis, Mashpee, Nantucket, Truro, Orleans, Provincetown, Vineyard Haven, and Wellfleet.

Protesters sported bright signs urging the government to “Reunite Refugee Families Now,” “Treat All Humans Humanely,” and extend “Justice and Tolerance.”

Paul Osimo, who came down from Providence, Rhode Island with his wife and three-year-old daughter to attend the Barnstable Village protest, said that by and large the community appeared supportive.

“My sign says ‘Find Their Kids and Give Them Back,’” he explained, holding up his simple cardboard placard, “and I haven’t had any thumbs down for this. This is not an anti-Trump sign, it’s just a pro being a good person sign.”

The “Families Belong Together” national day of action featured with more than 770 events in all 50 states, and over 85 percent of congressional districts, and an anchor protest in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C.

 

Steve Bergland of Yarmouth Port was protesting with a number of other members of the local Universalist Church,

“We definitely have an immigration problem there got to be something done, this has been building for decades and decades and decades nobody’s done anything that’s why when the problem situation that we are.” he said, “But this particular element of Trumps effort to do something about it not the right way to go about it. It’s a diagram from Hitler’s playbook.” 

Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to participate nationwide. The actions are focused on opposing the separation and detention of illegal immigrant families, a practice which the Trump administration has pledged to cease.

Osimo says that that’s not enough, and while he disagrees with the president, this isn’t necessarily a political issue.

“It’s a moral thing.” he says.

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